The Hits Of 1962 is the latest volume of our popular American Music Library series. It includes all the American Top 10 hits that weren’t hits in Britain, any number ones on the R&B and C&W charts that didn’t make the Top 10 on the Hot 100, nor were hits in the UK, as well as a selection of the Hot 100 hits that didn’t make the US Top 10, nor the British charts.

America took no notice when Parlophone Records in Britain issued Love Me Do by The Beatles in October 1962. Across the water that year it was business as usual and when all the figures were added up, RCA Victor came out as the label with the most hit singles that year, with the Liberty label as runner-up and three majors, Columbia, Decca and Mercury tie-ing for third place. America’s teenagers were still dancing, thanks to a steady supply of dance crazes, mainly emanating from Philadelphia’s Cameo and Parkway labels and in Detroit Berry Gordy was in the early stages of formulating his Sound of Young America at his Tamla-Motown-Gordy stable of labels.

Because of the amount of chart action in the Hot 100 in 1962, we have had to expand our coverage of The Hits Of 1962 from the 90-track 3CD set of previous instalments in this series, to a whopping 120-track 4CD set, featuring:All 55 US Pop 10 hits from 1962 that didn’t make the UK chart,All 8 additional US Country and R&B chart-toppers that evaded the US Pop Top 10 (and again didn’t make the UK charts),A generous 57-track selection of further hits from the US Pop Hot 100, none of which made the UK charts.With an expanded booklet annotated by compiler Austin Powell, American Music Library: The Hits Of 1962 offers a fascinating overview of the world’s biggest record-buying market of the time...

Continuing the major series from Fantastic Voyage, providing an in-depth survey of US hits both big and small4CD set packed with 120 hits from the US charts of 1962, none of which were hits in the UK24pp booklet, annotated by compiler Austin PowellDeliberately compiled to complement (without track overlap) the highly popular British Hit Parade seriesThere is the prospect of further volumes surveying the Fifties, as well as companion volumes devoted to lesser hits

1. I’ve Been Everywhere (Hank Snow)2. Don’t Let Me Cross Over (Carl Butler)3. Soul Twist (King Curtis and The Noble Knights)4. Dear Ivan (Jimmy Dean)5. Motorcycle (Tico and The Triumphs)6. A Little Too Much (Clarence Henry)7. Surfer’s Stomp (The Mar-Kets)8. A Sunday Kind Of Love (Jan and Dean)9. Where Have All The Flowers Gone (The Kingston Trio)10. I Surrender Dear (Aretha Franklin)11. Yessiree (Linda Scott)12. Come Back Silly Girl (The Lettermen)13. Surfin’ (The Beach Boys)14. Dear One (Larry Finnegan)15. She Can’t Find Her Keys (Paul Petersen)16. Annie Get Your Yo-Yo (Little Junior Parker)17. The Rains Came (Big Sambo and The House Wreckers)18. Anything That’s Part Of You (Elvis Presley)19. Moments To Remember (Jennell Hawkins)20. Uptown (The Crystals)21. Twistin’ Matilda (Jimmy Soul)22. Itty Bitty Pieces (James Ray)23. I’ll Take You Home (The Corsairs)24. So This Is Love (The Castells)25. I’m On My Way (The Highwaymen)26. Most People Get Married (Patti Page)27. I Was Born To Cry (Dion)28. Don’t Play That Song (Ben E. King)29. You Don’t Miss Your Water (William Bell)30. Hit Record (Brook Benton)

Disc 4:

1. Oh My Angel (Bertha Tillman)2. Fortune Teller (Bobby Curtola)3. Stranger On The Shore (The Drifters)4. Imagine That (Patsy Cline)5. Lipstick Traces On A Cigarette (Benny Spellman)6. Having A Party (Sam Cooke)7. Twist And Shout (The Isley Brothers)8. Dancin’ The Strand (Maureen Gray)9. I Don’t Love You No More I Don’t Care About You (Jimmy Norman)10. Little Red Rented Row Boat (Joe Dowell)11. Above The Stars (Mr Acker Bilk)12. Till Death Do Us Part (Bob Braun)13. I Love You The Way You Are (Bobby Vinton)14. I’m The Girl From Wolverton Mountain (Jo Ann Campbell)15. If I Didn’t Have A Dime To Play The Jukebox (Gene Pitney)16. Your Heart Belongs To Me (The Supremes)17. Someday When I’m Gone From You (Bobby Vee and The Crickets)18. I’m Goin’ Back To School (Dee Clark)19. That Stranger Used To Be My Girl (Trade Martin)20. Wiggle Wobble (Les Cooper and The Soul Rockers)21. Dear Hearts And Gentle People (The Springfields)22. If You Were A Rock And Roll Record (Freddy Cannon)23. A Little Bit Now A Little Bit Later (The Majors)24. Shutters And Boards (Jerry Wallace)25. Road Hog (John D. Loudermilk)26. Echo (The Emotions)27. My Wife Can’t Cook (Lonnie Russ)28. Remember Then (The Earls)29. Loop De Loop (Johnny Thunder)30. Shake Me I Rattle Squeeze Me I Cry (Marion Worth)